1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air cleaner device suitable for use in a vehicle, such as a two-, three-, or four-wheeled motor vehicle.
2. Background Art
Conventional air cleaners for two and three-wheeled vehicles are known having a box-shaped air cleaner case supported by a vehicle body frame. The vehicle engine is mounted on the frame, and an air inlet and an air outlet are formed in one side of the air cleaner case. An air intake duct is connected to the air inlet through a duct seal, and a connecting tube connected to the carburetor is directly connected to the air outlet. Such a conventional air cleaner is shown in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 5-105157.
In the above conventional structure, a dedicated duct seal is required for connecting the air intake duct to the air inlet of the air cleaner case in an airtight manner. The duct seal is fitted to a downstream end of the duct in the air inlet. Because the duct seal is an independent component separate from the connecting tube, the number of components and cost increases.
Also, the separate duct seal and the connecting tube are disposed side by side at a predetermined spacing on the same mounting surface (a relatively narrow front surface) of the air cleaner case. If at least one of the air intake duct or the connecting tube (and hence the air inlet or the air outlet) is enlarged to increase performance, a special increase in size of the air cleaner case is required. In the vehicle mentioned above, because various vehicular components such as the engine, seat, fuel tank and a rear fork are disposed in the space around the air cleaner case, an attempt to increase the size of the air cleaner case results in a decrease of freedom in designing the vehicle.
An air cleaner device which allows for increased engine performance without a large increase in size of the air cleaner case is therefore desirable.